Impressions (Larry Stylinson AU)
by Simply-Larry
Summary: Louis Tomlinson hasn't always been rich. He hasn't always attended expensive schools and much less, he has never had a maid, for Pete's sake. Harry Styles, on the other hand, was born with this kind of life, and when Louis and the curly haired boy meet, they clash. Not because of their different economic backgrounds, but because of their absolutely different attitudes.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing that Louis Tomlinson noticed when he entered the big house was the smell. It smelled like floor cleaner, roses, and vanilla. The strong scent prickled his nostrils and he resisted the urge to sneeze, tears popping into his eyes as he squinted disdainfully at the maid that was walking toward him. She was even wearing a uniform and everything. She looked young, and her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, toffee strands coming free behind her ears and sticking on her forehead. She was pretty, and when she was in front of him, she stuck out her hand, before realizing that her hand was dirty. She blushed and quickly walked away. Louis shrugged and stood in the big foyer, waiting for Arthur to come inside.

Arthur, Louis thought bitterly. He knew that his mother had been dating since his parents had gotten divorced, but he had never expected her to get married so quickly. And he had never had expected for her to get married to one of the richest men in New York either. Yes. New York. They had moved all the way from Doncaster to New York. This was not right.

"Louis," Arthur said as he stepped inside, his mother hanging off the older man's arm. "Don't stand there like a stranger, this is your house now," Arthur smiled broadly, and Louis almost threw up when he saw his mum give him a sickly sweet smile. Louis really didn't want to be here. Louis didn't want to live in this house that didn't smell like baby powder and pancakes in the morning, like his house back in England. He didn't want to have a car that didn't shutter when he turned the key or that didn't stall when he tried to put the window down. Louis wanted to go back to Doncaster where all his friends were, who understood him and knew he wasn't a teen dirtbag that fixed his face into blank stares and walked around wearing a leather jacket just because he wanted to pretend to be a bad boy. He wanted to be able to go to parties where he could get absolutely wasted without the police arresting him because he was underage. But now, here, he was. At 19 years of age, Louis couldn't do shit in this country. What was his mum thinking.

Lottie came bounding through the door, her long blond hair bouncing around her back as she ran to stand in front of Arthur. The twins were walked in by their new Nanny, and they stared at the double staircase, at the marble floor, and the hallway beyond. It was the biggest house they had ever seen, and unlike Louis, they were all in awe. Arthur, once being a rebellious teenager himself, sensed Louis discomfort and decided to put the boy out of his misery, motioning for them to climb up the stairs so that he could direct the boy to his new room. Arthur really wanted do get on the young man's good side, however he wasn't going to kid himself. It would take some time to get through to the sulky teen.

"This," Arthur said with a big grin before he pushed open the tall door. "Is your room," He stepped inside but kept a hand on the twins shoulders so they wouldn't run inside. A boy's room was sacred, no matter how old they were.

Louis would never admit it, but his stomach sank as he walked into the very large space. There was a big screen TV on one side, almost taking the whole wall. In front of it, there was a large comfy looking couch. He thought he spied various game consoles, but he didn't look at it for too long. His eyes trailed to the wall adjacent to the TV, and he saw a built in bookcase, where an ungodly amount of DVDs and games had already taken residence. Louis breathed in as he turned, ignoring the open door to a large bathroom, and walking through a doorway that led to what could only be where his bed was. It was a big king sized monster with giant fluffy pillows. It was airy, the light green walls relaxing, and Louis really really liked it. But of course he would never say. He fixed his face in a nonchalant expression and turned to walk to the first door, but not before his eye caught the giant walk-in closet filled with suits and button-ups and God knows what. But what really caught his attention was the uniforms closest to the closet entrance. The blazer was dark blue, with an embroidered SAA on the breast pocket, and under it, a tiny LT in fancy cursive lettering. The shirt was, of course, a button up. White, of all colors and a grey, white and black tie laid around the hanger neatly. Under each blazer, Louis could see light grey trouser peeking out, and a pair of shiny shoes sat under each set of uniforms.

Louis turned away swiftly, pushing the image out if his mind. That could only mean one thing...

"Do you like it," Arthur asked patiently from behind Louis. The boy turned and gave a stuff nod.

"It's alright, yeah, mate," Louis said and he winced as his mother chastised him from behind Arthur.

"Those are your uniforms," Arthur said, as Louis couldn't help but glance at them again. "You start on Monday. The school year started last week, and normally St. Augusta doesn't take student after it starts, but they've made an exception for us," he smiled at Louis, but before he could turn away, Louis scoffed.

"I don't want to go to little rich kids' school," he almost spat. "I'm 19. Don't you think it's a bit late for me to go back?" Arthur looked at him nonplussed.

"No. As a matter of fact I don't think it's to late for you," he Looked down at Jay as he wrapped an arm around her. "Your mother has told me how smart-" Louis snorted and shook his head, but Arthur held up a shushing hand with a commanding gaze Louis could not disobey. "She's told me how smart you are and how sad she was that you never finished high school," he paused and lowered his voice. "You don't have to be embarrassed about being older than all the kids at school, Louis. There boys and girls your age there. As there are boys and girls years younger. Your sister Lottie and Fizz amongst them," this time Arthur did turn, but not before Louis muttered under his breath a deep, frustrated curse.

"Language," the man said before he gave Louis a smile and stepped out of the big main room, followed by his mother and sisters.

Just fan-fucking-tastic, Louis thought to himself as he went to check the bathroom out, not because he was curious. No not at all. It was because he needed to take a wee. Or so he told himself, really.

A few blocks away, Harry Styles muttered under his breath as he stepped over one of his best friends, Niall, to walk toward the neat closet attached to his big room.

"I don't know what I should wear," he told Niall, who was playing some card game on the floor with Liam and Zayn. They were all a year older than him, but they had become best friend due to the fact that Harry was advanced in his studies and they were all in almost the same classes. That and the curly haired boys maturity level surpassed those of all of the other three put together. Well. Sometimes anyway. At 17, he was still young at heart.

"Mate," the boy said as he slapped a card down on the floor and looked up at Harry with sparkling blue eyes and a ready smile. "You could wear a paper bag and all those hormonal girls would throw themselves at you," he turned to look at Liam expectantly, waiting for his next move.

Zayn nodded and absently looked at Harry. Liam looked up, and always trying to be the one to solve a problem and put people at ease, well, again, sometimes, other times the boy just ran around being the goofball he was, he smiled at the younger boy and motioned toward the other two teens that sprawled next to his crossed legs.

"Go for the t-shirt and jeans like us Harry," he said. Harry nodded and opened the first drawer that held about thirty pairs of t-shirts. He fished out a worn gray shirt, but ended up changing his mind and shoving the soft fabric back into the drawer, choosing to put on a black jumper instead. The warm wool clung to his chest and arms and made his long torso look even better. He stepped out of his sweats and walked to the rack which held all his jeans, choosing a light washed pair that looked worn, but in reality had been used a handful of times. He gave his hair a ruffle, and poked the curly mass to the side, but not before walking to the bathroom and spraying himself with deodorant and a splashing some cologne. He brushed his pearly white, straight teeth, curtesy of years of painful braces, and tried to ignore the small zit appearing on his forehead, hidden by his curly hair. Other than that, his face was a flawless expanse of ivory skin, chiseled cheekbones, and a embarrassingly pouty, red mouth.

"I'm ready," he said as he walked back into the bedroom.

The boys gave him a once over, and they all shook their heads. After whining and complaining for an hour that he couldn't find something to wear, and the boy had gotten ready in less than ten minutes.

"I still don't get why we are going to this party," Zayn complained as he stood.

"Because Liam here has a nice little crush on one of the cheerleaders and is too much of a pussy to go by himself," Niall mumbled to himself as he ran a hand over his wrinkled jeans. He gave a little 'oomf' as Liam smacked him in the middle of the stomach on his way to the door.

"And because there's going to be plenty of alcohol," Harry smiled to himself. Niall scoffed.

"You don't even drink that much, Harold," he said and shut the door behind all of them.

"As it should," Anne said behind them as she walked down the hall wearing a cocktail dress.

"I didn't know you were going out too, mom," Harry said as he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and took her arm to help her walk down the stairs in her heels.

"Well, darling, you're not the only one that has plans on a Saturday night,"she giggled and swatted his arm. "Arthur Conway is having a party in celebration of his new wife and her children moving to the States all the way from England," she said as she pushed a strand of inky black hair behind her ear.

"England!" Hooted Zayn, and was promptly elbowed by Liam.

"You boys should come with me, at least for a bit," Anne suggested. "They have a boy your age and four other children too. Three of the five are going to the Academy with you guys..." She tugged on her earring lightly, adjusting the tiny diamond stud. Harry gave a cursory glance at his attire and of the other boys' and smiled at his mother.

"I don't think we're exactly dressed for a formal party, mother," he said sweetly.

"Nonsense," his mother said, her voice determined, and Harry groaned internally. "You're going. It's early and you can leave once you've introduced yourself," she told Harry sternly. She smiled at the other boys, and they winced because they knew that even though she couldn't make them go anywhere, they would accompany Harry. They would never let him go any where by himself. Especially on a Saturday night. Well. Unless he had a hot date, which happened often.

"We'll go," Liam said

Yeah, it's no problem," Zayn muttered.

"Who goes to a party early, anyway. That's lame," Niall scoffed.

Anne beamed, and put out her arms as the butler helped put on her coat.

They stepped out into the crispy cold air as one of the cars was brought up. Anne got in, and stuck out her head. "It's not far from her, sweetie, just follow the car, okay?" She shut the door behind her, and Harry walked to where his range rover was already running. They all got in, and followed the black Cadillac in front of them. Not even five minutes later, they drove up the big driveway of the Conway estate, and Zayn put down the blasting music to a reasonable level as they drove up to and all stepped out of the car on the circular driveway. They didn't even blink an eye at the sheer size of the house, and when they stepped inside, they only wince at all the older people. They gave each other looks and shook their heads as they followed his mother. Well, no wonder Janice was throwing a big party. Her parents were going to probably be here!

"Arthur," his mom said with a smile, and the big blonde man leaned down to give Anne a light kiss on the cheek. He motioned toward a petite woman with an hourglass figure and a broad smile on her face, introducing her as his wife, Jay.

"Hello," the woman said shyly, and shook Anne's hand briskly. Harry could see that she hadn't been, well, privileged in England, because all the women that he knew, shook hands with a barely there feathery touch of the fingertips. Anne's smiled broadened, and she looked behind her, where all four boys stood awkwardly looking around them.

"Oh, well hello boys," Arthur said enthusiastically, motioning for them to come forward. "I'm glad you're here," he said as he let go of his wife to step toward them and toward the stairs. "I haven't been able to get Louis to come out of his room since yesterday," he said as he looked behind him to make sure the teens were following. "He only steps out of there to eat," he shook his head. "Maybe he just needs some company from somebody his age, and its good that you can meet him today since he starts school on Monday," he said as he stopped on the third door down the hallway. He knocked loudly on the door, and Liam looked at the boys questioningly as an irritated "What?" came from the other side.

"I have some new people I want you to meet, Louis," Arthur said. They waited for a couple of minutes. Then the door flew open, and a heavy British accent was the first thing to greet them before they saw the boy who stood in front of Arthur.

"For God's sake Arthur," he said in a raspy, exasperated voice. "I told you I don't want to meet any of your stuffed up friends," the boy said. Arthur, instead of being offended, stepped to the side, and motioned toward the four boys standing behind him, who were staring at Louis curiously.

If you asked Harry and Louis in the future what their first thoughts of each other were, they would blush and sputter and say that it was like meeting any other person. They would say that they felt disdain for each other from the get go. But in reality, they would always remember that first glimpse. Louis would always remember the way that a little 's' curled around Harry's ear, the way that his green eyes had roamed over his bare chest and tight worn (actually, worn) jeans. And Harry would never forget how Louis had ran his hand through his short hair in exasperation, or how the sandy strands has stood on end. He would never forget how the older boy's blue eyes had flashed with just a little bit of interest. They would never forget, no, but that didn't mean that they had liked each other at that instant. To the contrary, actually.

"Hi," Liam said, remembering his manners. He stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Liam Payne," he said, and not discreetly pushed Zayn and Niall forward.

"Zayn Malik," the dark haired boy said cautiously. He was always quiet when he first met people, and as time progressed and he warmed to them, he let his boisterous personality show.

"Niall Horan," the blond said suspiciously, and even though all the others had shaken the older, but smaller boy's hand, Harry stood back and gave a curt nod, not impressed with the arrogant teen in the doorway.

"Harry Styles," he said. When the English boy didn't say anything and just stared at them as if they had interrupted something very important, which they knew they hadn't since obscene rap music blasted from the open doorway, Arthur cleared his throat and the boys shuffled about uncomfortably. Everyone except Louis of course. He just looked at all of them blankly.

"This is Louis Tomlinson," Arthur said as he made to set a hand on the boy's shoulder, but quickly thought about it again and stuffed it in his pocket, twitching on its way to his trousers. "Louis, these are your new classmates," he said slowly. It was so awkward that it made all of the teens want to just drop and die.

"Cool," Louis muttered, looking bored. He leaned on his hip and set his arm against the door jamb, making his bicep bulge, which Harry couldn't help but marble at. How much did he work out he wondered as he thought about his own exercise regime. Liam, again, being the nice empathetic guy that he was, smiled and took another tiny step forward.

"Well, we're going to a party right now," he said, and three heads flew to look at him incredulously. "And, well, why don't you come with us?" Arthur looked on with interest, while Niall, Zayn and Harry stared at Liam. Louis just looked at him with little interest and scratched the back of his neck.

"You should go, Louis," Arthur said, and Louis sent him a little glare.

"How about not," Louis said, and closed the door in their faces. Arthur winced and the others stared.

"Well that went better than what I thought," Arthur said brightly, while all the other looked at him incredulously. "Sorry boys," he said as he set a hand on Liam's and Zayn's shoulder. "You can go now," he said, not rudely, but sympathetically as he looked down at all the people milling around the foyer.

"Thanks!" Niall said, ignoring Liam's jab. Trust the blond to be rude without actually meaning too. He walked toward the double doors without turning to see if the others were following him. Zayn and Harry did, waving toward Anne as she paused her conversation with Jay to look at them curiously. Liam, however, hung back and shook Arthur's hand, and until then he walked after the others.

"They stood outside waiting for Harry's car in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. But as Harry climbed in to the driver's seat of the range rover, he couldn't help but think, "what a prick," as he remembered Louis. That was the last time he thought about the older boy that night, until the very next time they met, which would be quite memorable for both of them.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm so excited about this chapter. This is the chapter where Louis and Harry actually talk to each other for the first time. The scene has been replaying behind my eyelids in my sleep, and I am so anxious to get it down. This'll be a long chapter I can tell, since it'll be a while before Louis let's me get to that part. Anyway, I know you think I'm insane. I am, just a bit. But, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

This was such bullshit. Louis didn't want to do this shit. He opened the door to the black sedan open and threw his leather bag inside. He didn't want to go to school again. He eyed the driver as he pulled away from the house, and opened his mouth to tell the man to go any where but to the Academy, but he thought better of it. You could never trust employees. They would always end up telling their bosses when questioned, and Louis was one hundred percent sure that this man would be asked by his step-dad if he had actually taken Louis to school. Twenty minutes later, they pulled up into gated buildings. It was surrounded by trees, and Louis winced. There was no way he could just leave this place. It was like a prison for God's sake. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest after he tugged on his tie to loosen it a bit. It felt like a noose on his neck if he was honest. His whole outfit felt suffocating. As soon as the car stopped, the driver got out and walked around to open the door for him, closing it shut as Louis stepped out. He stood by the car until the teen walked through the doors of the establishment, as he had been instructed by Mr. Conway. Now he knew why. The boy was pulling out his his crisp white shirt from his trousers and loosening his tie even further, popping the top button open as he pushed open one of the doors. He slung his leather bag over one shoulder and looked on with distaste as he watched at all the kids look at him.

This would just be fantastic, he thought to himself as he walked toward the dean's office to get his schedule. Maths, History, French, Theater, Music, Physics, holy shit. What more shit can you pile on all of this? Louis thought as he walked to his first class, ignoring and pretty much glaring at everyone who even dared turn towards him.

He walked into the first classroom and looked at his new Rolex. He had three minutes until the bell rang. He was early. He looked up and saw that everyone pretty much was already seated, and as he walked toward the back, he noticed how all the girls turned to stare at him as he passed, already swooning for his I-don't-give-two-fucks attitude. He resisted the urge to scoff as he looked at their preppy skirts and navy sweaters. God he hated this. He pulled out a notebook and a pen, deciding that he might as well look as if he was interested so the professor wouldn't fuck with him. Just then a woman walked in, her honey hair combed to the side, a pair of glasses perched precariously on the tip of her nose as she set down a cup of Starbucks on the desk. She looked up and walked to the door to close it just as the bell rang, and the chatter in the classroom died down just a bit. The only people talking now were the girls who kept turning around to give him appraising looks. He made sure his face was blank. He didn't want to come off as an asshole, even though he didn't really care what people thought, but he didn't want to seem inviting too. He also hoped that he didn't have to talk because he knew that Americans died for British accents.

"Mr. Tomlinson," the woman at the desk said. Louis leaned back in his seat and raised his hand lethargically.

"Here," he said softly.

"Could you walk up to the front of the class and just introduce yourself. Where you're from, if you have any siblings, hobbies..." Louis really didn't like taking shit from anybody, and he had half a mind to just send the woman to hades. What was the point of him introducing himself. One didn't come to school to make friends... Well, he didn't. No one gave a fuck about his life, and if they did it was because they were nosy bastards. He got up anyways. He was here. Might as well make this whole experience less painful. He got up, and just to be an ass, he sat at the corner of the professor's desk, loosening his tie even further, if that was even possible. He gave a cocky nod.

"Louis Tomlinson, I'm from Doncaster, I have four sisters, and I fucking hate school," he winked at one of the girls as they gasped and whipped their head toward the professor, who stared at him wide eyed. He stood up and walked back to his desk, and sat down with a plop. He shouldn't have done it really. But he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Language, Mr. Tomlinson. I don't know if they allowed this back in England, but we sure don't here. I expect to see a one thousand word paper on the importance of use of proper language," she said to him sternly. Louis smirked. She could expect all she wanted. As the class went on, and they learned about trigonometry, which Louis knew all about, he found out that the professors name was Ms. Tillman, and that she was quite good at her job. Everyone loved her, and at some point or the other, Louis might have found himself scribbling notes down in his notebook. When the bell rang, he headed toward the history department.

When he walked into this classroom, he saw that the four boys Arthur had introduced to him were sitting on one side of the room. Then he saw tables were long and were set so that everyone had to look at each other, leaving a big space in the middle with a wooden desk. This would be interesting. Louis decided to sit on one corner, and hoped to hell that he looked formidable enough that no one would want to sit next to him. He stared at the far wall for a few minutes, not even noticing when the bell rang until he fell a little poke on his arm. He turned his head, and next to him sat a blonde girl with a tiny smile and big blue eyes. She was tall, lanky, and she blushed as he showed no expression on his face.

Now, Louis having four little sisters, he always had a soft spot for shy girls. Well. All girls really. He wanted to make them all feel at ease. He wanted them to feel beautiful, if even for a second. He wanted them to feel like someone cared, because he hoped that someday, someone would do the same for his sisters. So with that thought, he let his face slacken, his blue eyes to sparkle and he smiled his I'm-an-angel smile.

"Louis Tomlinson?" She asked shyly from under a curtain of hair as she leaned down to scratch her leg.

"I see the news travel fast in this school," Louis said with an eye-roll.

"Oh, I didn't hear about you today," she said as she pulled out a notebook and set a pen on top of it on the table.

"Oh?" Louis said, half interested.

"My parents were at your parents' party on Saturday," she said as she turned so that she was facing him in her chair. She stuck out her long fingered hand at him, and he shook her cool palm in his rough one. "Annie Johnson," she said with a smile.

"Well, Annie, I'd tell you my name but seems like you know it already," he said coyly. She giggled and that's the last they talked as the bell rang in the next instant and he was introduced, again, to the whole class. This time, without having to walk to the front. As the time went by, Louis grew more restless and bored, earning funny little looks from Annie, and more than an unnoticeable glare from the professor. He looked at the table opposite him, and his eye caught a certain cloud of curly hair. Louis leaned back, putting his hand under his chin as he observed the teen from under his lashes.

The boy looked up at the board and back down quickly as he scribbled on his notebook furiously. Louis snorted quietly. So he was one of those guys. Those goody two shoes that had to do their homework before they could eat dinner and went to sleep before eight o clock. He looked like it too. His tie was perfectly straight, his white shirt didn't have a single wrinkle and it was perfectly tucked into his trousers, which were starched to the point that Louis thought they would crackle under the touch. Louis squinted. His hands were big, and if he wasn't mistaken, they looked manicured. Of course. Louis looked away, but not before the blond boy next to Harry caught Louis staring at his friend with disdain. Niall shook his head and dismissed the thought. He was probably just imagining things. No one hated Harry. Well, no that was a lie. He was sure that there was someone in the whole world that did, but Niall himself had never met anyone. Girls wanted to be with him and boys wanted to be him. It was just how things were. Harry wasn't exactly the most popular, but he was amongst the group. He looked at Louis more closely. He had stubble and his uniform was just all sorts of fucked up. There was something about him that made Niall just a little curious though. He couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was, but he decided that he would talk to the Englishman next time he could. Liam jabbed him in the arm with his pen and motioned for him to pay attention to the lesson. Niall gave a sigh and thanked The Lord that he had Liam to keep him focused. Or else he would probably end up as a hobo after flunking out of school. Or maybe not, he thought with a chuckle as he faced Mr. Rodriguez, who was talking about the New York's stock market crash of 1929...

This was such bullshit. It was about the hundredth time Louis had thought this in just a couple hours, and as he looked down at his watch, he scowled when he saw that he had another three hours of this torture. Now, before you start thinking that Louis was a lazy bum, then you should know that, he was, in fact one. But that's beside the point. Louis knew that he was smart, he just hated school. Period. That was one of the reasons why he had quit school two years ago... Well, that and because he had to help is mum with money and taking care of the girls. But again, that was besides the point at the moment. He had gotten through lunch, which had been interrupted by a countless amount of people introducing themselves to him, as if he cared, honestly. They had seen he was wearing headphones, but he guessed that the universal sign that said "don't fuck with me right now" wasn't understood by all these high end, high maintenance blokes. He had gotten through two more classes, but that was all he could deal with at the moment. He didn't give a fuck. He walked into the big bathroom with a look around him and pulled out his phone as he made an agile jump up to the tall windowsill. It looked out into the garden, which was empty since everyone was supposed to be in class. Well, except for one class, which was doing yoga or some sort. Yoga, for crying out loud! Was that even a real class? He shook his head and looked down at his phone. Louis's mouth twisted as he looked down at the scree. He had been on it so much that the battery was down to nine percent. Great. What was he supposed to do now?

His eyes darted to the bag at his side, which was squished up against the window, and he decided that he might as well draw a little. Louis wasn't a big artist or anything, and the furthest his artistic abilities went was stick figures. But when he was bored, he liked to doodle, and usually, his doodling turned out pretty neat. Louis was more one to take pictures. It was one of his secret fascinations. The way that a photographer could turn one scene and make it look like another. Different angles made you see different things, different lights. Nothing was what it seemed, but what you made of it, what you chose to see. It was all so fascinating. He had always wanted a camera, and more than that, he had wanted lessons that taught him the tricks, but of course the opportunities and the means had never presented themselves to him, and now that desire had been pushed to the back of his mind. But really, he should start thinking more about his future. Every time he thought about the subject, his stomach sank and his mouth went dry. What was he doing with his life? He was turning twenty in December. What did he have to show for these twenty years? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Yes, he had a big trust fund now, but what had he done to earn that? Again, nothing. He didn't really want to take anything from Arthur, for Louis grudgingly admitted that the bloke was nice. He felt uncomfortable in theses new clothes, in that big house, with all those people doing everything for him. It just didn't feel right. Well, who doesn't dream about being rich, Louis thought to himself as he drew lines on the notebook on his lap. Everyone does, he answered to himself. But one thing was dreaming about it, and then achieving that dream with your own work and struggle, and it was a whole other thing to get it by your mum remarrying. It seemed wrong.

As he drew a squiggly, he wondered what Stan and Hannah were doing. They had been his closest friends since he could remember. Hannah being his first girlfriend and the person that had helped him understand and accept who he was, and Stan being the boy that had been his partner in crime for every mischief along the way. He missed them a lot. It wasn't very easy for Louis to open up, and that made it a tad difficult for him to make friends. The only friend he seemed to have nowadays was his sister Lottie, and his mother, of course, but he wasn't talking too much to her. He wasn't ready to tell her yet exactly how he felt. Louis knew that if he let himself tell Jay, he would probably become an angry blubbering mess, and if the glow that followed Jay around every where she went was any indication, his mum was too happy to be upset with his feelings.

His mum, Louis thought with a sigh. He had always thought about her as a real life hero since he was a little boy. She was a nurse... Well, she used to be, and Louis had always looked up to her. He had admired her ability to take care of five children despite long hours and extra shifts. He was her best friend and she was his, and it made him a little sad that they were having this fallout because he was acting like such a twat. It wasn't fair to her. He would have to talk to her seriously one of these days...

Louis looked up as the door to the bathroom was pushed open and no other than Harry Styles walked in. He walked into the bathroom without noticing that he was there, and walked straight up to the urinal. Louis looked down at his notebook as he heard the swish of a zipper, and the soft stream of urine hitting the marble. When the boy was done, he tucked and turned around, walking toward the sinks. When he was in front of the mirror, he still hadn't noticed Louis and only as he was adjusting his curls did he look over his shoulder at the reflection of the boy who sat on the windowsill, his upper body bent over his lap with a pencil in his hand. And Harry couldn't help himself. He gave a loud snort.

"Of course," he said loudly, his tone sounding standoffish to his own ears. He didn't really care. "Skipping on your first day. Figures," he said as he turned back to the mirror. Louis looked up, his mouth popping open and his eyes going wide. It looked like New York's heartthrob had a sour side. Louis closed his mouth and readjusted his face, outrage taking surprise's place. Honestly, who the fuck did he think he was...

"Mind your own business, sunshine," he said as he looked at the younger boy, eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me what to do," he said. "And my name is Harry," he turned around and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he looked at Louis with a look of antipathy.

"I don't give two fucks what your name is," Louis said as he jumped down the windowsill. He shrugged of the blazer that was getting on his nerves and rolled the sleeves to his forearms. Harry blinked. No one had been this rude to him before. He decided to take a different approach. He didn't even know why he was talking with the guy. He should have washed his hands and gotten the hell out. But this guy... This guy just rubbed him the wrong way. Something about his attitude. His attitude which gave the whole world a "I don't care", made Harry want to get to him. He wasn't about to analyze the urge too deeply at the moment, but it was something that would keep him awake some nights in the near future. At that moment however, he chose to scrutinize Louis more closely. His eyes were an interesting combination of gray and blue, framed by eyelashes that should have certainly looked feminine due to their length, but didn't. His face was angular, and chiseled, and Harry detected stubble on his chin. His shirt was untucked, his hair was a mess, just like the first time they had met, and again, Harry felt that annoyance in the pit of his stomach.

"Does Arthur know that he's paying all this money to have you skip class?" Harry said. He would have felt bad when he saw the other boy wince, but the expression was gone so quickly that Harry thought maybe he had just imagined it. Louis took a step forward, and Harry made himself stand his ground.

"I said," Louis pronounced through gritted teeth, watching Harry intently with a curiously blank expression that made Harry want to prod harder. "Mind your own business," he paused and they stared each other down, the air beginning to crackle with tension. "Don't you have some professor's ass too kiss, or some panties to get wet or some shit?" Louis asked with a sneer. Harry tensed and dropped his arms to his side.

"More productive than what you do," he said with a scowl, his green eyes narrowing to match the other boy's.

"You don't know shit about me," Louis said as he took another step forward.

"I don't need to," Harry said. "I can see you're an absolute asshole, and that you don't deserve to be here," with that said, the curly haired boy walked out the door, his hands shaking. What the hell had that been? He had never been so rude to anyone in his life. He wasn't a snob. To the contrary. He was the less snob-y person in the whole school. So what had possessed him to act like this toward a man he had just barely met. He ran a hand through his hair, making his curls stand up on top of his head in a funny disarray before he smoothed them back down. This was so unlike him. A pair of blue eyes flashed in his head, and his heart stopped beating so fast as he saw the antagonism in the stormy depths. As he walked through the door of the classroom, he decided to push the whole incident to the back of his mind to look at later.

In the bathroom, Louis leaned on his arms on the sink counter, staring at his own reflection, which was void of any emotion. He took a shaky breath and knew that Harry had no idea how close to home he had hit...

A/N: Holy shit. What the fuck was that... I dunno. Someone help me. I can't. I know what's gonna happen next chapter and asdfghjkl. Anyways. Hope you liked this one (:


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Before I start this... I honestly don't know what exactly is going happen in this chapter. But I feel like its gonna be good. We're gonna find out a few things about a few people in this chapter, though. VERY interesting things *maniacal laugh*. Okay. Hang in there with me? Maybe Harry and Louis will stop being such twats soon' I dunno.

A week later, Louis was sitting at a table by himself in the lunchroom. People had learned not to bother him, and as he felt the slight rattle of the table as someone pulled out a chair and laid down a stack of book on top, he whipped his head up to glare at the intruder. Turns out it was Annie, and he let himself relax slightly.

"I think that if you glare at your food just a bit harder," she said softly as she opened her notebook. "You might just be able to warm it back up," she giggled.

"You are so amusing," Louis said dryly. He hadn't talked to the girl since that first time they had met, and Louis was just a bit confused as to why she was talking to him now. It wasn't like he seemed welcoming at all. He decided that he might as voice the question.

"Why are you talking to me?" he asked softly. Not rudely, just in a curious voice.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm a nice person and I decided to sit down with the only person in the whole room thats sitting by himself," Annie answered with an eye roll.

"I don't mind," Louis said as he crossed his arms over his chest and settled more comfortably in his chair. "Don't you have popular friends to go sit with?" Louis asked as he nodded toward the middle of the room, where Harry Styles and his friends sat. There were more girls than boys sitting at the table, and Louis snorted. He could say that he hadn't thought about Harry since their bickering in the bathroom, but that would be such a lie. He had thought about the younger boy a lot, actually. He had wondered to himself who the fuck did Harry think he was, judging him. It didn't matter that he was right. The fact was Harry didn't have any room to talk. All he did was follow girls around. Louis was pretty sure that he had heard (eavesdropped) that Harry always had more than two girlfriends at the time. He heard rumors about Harry seeing a different girl everyday. Louis knew that it was wrong of him to believe all these rumors, but he really couldn't help it. He was looking for reasons not to like the boy. Annie laughed a little, but Louis could tell the sound of amusement was forced and not genuine.

"No," she said as she opened her text book. Louis decided to take the time to look at her as she focused on her work. She was very pretty. If you looked at her features individually though, you wouldn't think so though. He eyes were big, almost too big for her face and wide-set. Her mouth was little and pouty, and her nose was big and aristocratic. her cheekbones high and delicate. She was tall and skinny. But somehow, all put together, it worked for her. She had her blonde hair put up in a ponytail, side bangs covering half of her face. "Are you going to keep staring at me, or are you going to help me with my homework?" She asked a little too forcefully.

"What makes you think that I can or want to help you with your work?" Louis asked slowly.

"Well," She began as she chewed on the end of her pencil for a second. "I don't know about you WANTING to help me, but we can work on that..." she paused, and her eyes narrowed slightly on him. "As for the you being able too, I know for a FACT you can," she finished, crossing her own arms to mirror him.

"Oh? How so?" Louis asked, just a bit curious as to how she had gotten to this conclusion.

"I've observed you in class," she said slowly.

"That sounds a bit creepy to me," Louis said with half a smile.

"I think so too," Annie said as she smiled back. They were quiet for a few minutes.

"So what do you need help with," Louis finally asked. Annie beamed at him and Louis couldn't help but give a little smile in return. When lunch was over, they walked to their next class together, Annie being dorky and pulling faces at him, trying to ruin his poker face, which he had mastered since he was eleven. When they got to the classroom, Louis sat in his usual seat, but Annie followed him and sat in the seat next him, which had been empty until that moment. Louis sighed. He had a feeling that he would not be able to shake Annie of so easily now that he had been friendly. At the moment he didn't have the energy to care about it. Besides, Curly up in the front of the room was staring between him and Annie like he had just seen death. Louis resisted for a bit, holding his tongue... And then he cracked.

"So..." He began, making his voice as neutral as he could. "What do you think about that Styles kid?" he asked without looking at her. There was a long pause and just when he thought that she wasn't going to answer, he looked up to see that she was looking at Harry thoughtfully.

"I don't know," she answered after a second. "We used to be really good friends," she looked at him and smiled. But it wasn't a happy smile. It was a sad sort of smile. Louis wanted to ask more, but the bell rang at that moment. Halfway through the class, Louis got a little piece of paper thrown on his desk. He looked toward where it had come from, and he saw Annie nodding at it. Louis sighed and unfolded it in his hands. It read:

_Do you want to hang out after school today?_

Louis thought about it for a second, and decided that there was no harm. He was getting a little lonely, to be honest, and being around Annie kind of reminded Louis of the light hearted friendships he had left behind in England. He scribbled on the paper quickly and thought it back.

_Sure. But my house okay?_

She beamed at him and nodded. Louis looked down at his notes and vaguely thought, _'What did I just get myself into?'_

At the end of the day, Louis waited outside, leaning against the car that picked him up everyday. It had been ten minutes since the bell had rung, and he was about to just say fuck it and go home when Annie came bounding through the doors, a slight flush on her face, as if she had just ran a marathon, her breathing labored. She carried a giant backpack on her back, her body slightly doubled over by the weight of it.

"You know," he teased as he opened the door for her and helped her with the bag. "Thats why we have lockers, so we don't have to carry all this shit with us," He let her in first and smiled when she shushed him.

"Unlike you," she started, giving him a dirty look. "Some of us like doing our homework a few days before its due, not minutes before," he laughed. Hey, he was a procrastinator. He couldn't help it.

"So what took you so long?" he asked as they drove through the gates. She was texting and when she was done tapping on her phone, she looked up.

"Oh, um..." she looked at him for a second, as if thinking about how much she wanted to tell him. "I got held up by someone that needed to talk to me," she said before her phone vibrated on her lap. They didn't talk all the way to his house, and when they did, Louis wondered what the hell he was doing. Hadn't he said that he was going to keep to himself from now on? They walked through the door, and the maid who opened it said that his mother wanted to see him.

He walked down the long hallway, and he halted when he remembered that Annie was with him. She ran into his back with a little 'oomf'.

"Sorry. Just making sure that you weren't still standing at the door," he said. Annie rolled her eyes and gave him a little shove. She as going to end up hurting herself if she kept rolling her eyes so much, he thought with a smile.

"Hi, mum," he said when he walked in to the large office that his mum and stepdad now shared.

"Louis, darling," Jay said sweetly and patted his cheek as he leaned over to give her a kiss. She looked around him and spotted Annie standing in the doorway. Louis opened his mouth to introduce them when-

"Annie!" his mother beamed. Louis stared. "You're uncle said you were going to come visit one of these days, but I didn't think it would be today. I would have told Chef to cook something special," Annie had walked toward Jay and had given the sweet woman a hug before sitting on one corner of the desk.

"Um," Louis said as he scratched his head, confused. It was a little tick he absolutely had to get rid of. "Did I miss something?" he asked as he looked between the both of them.

"Oh," Jay said as she looked at Annie and swatted the girl's leg. "You didn't tell him did you?" She asked and Annie shook her head.

"Nope,"

"Told me what? For fuck's sake, just tell me!" he said impatiently.

"Language!" his mum scolded.

"Arthur is my uncle," Annie said. "Uncle Arthy..." she paused and looked up at Louis. "Hi cousin," she said softly.

"Louis," Annie said for the fifth time as they sat on the floor of his room.

"What?"

"Are you mad?"

"No,"

"Yes you are,"

"Why do you ask if you won't accept my answer,"

"You're being an asshole,"

"You're being a brat,"

They stayed silent for about three seconds, each writing furiously into their notebooks until-

"Louis,"

"What?"

"You know," Annie said as she put her pencil down. "I didn't just want to hang out because we're family now..."

"Okay," Louis said, trying to hide his little smile. To be honest, that is exactly what had been bothering him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Annie said. Louis looked up and sighed. He wasn't as focused anymore, so that meant that he wasn't going to get anywhere on his homework.

"Sure," he sat up slowly and winced as his back cracked. He needed a table with nice funky chairs in here so they wouldn't have to do their work on the floor. "But," he held up his hand before she started. "Doesn't mean I'll answer it," Annie nodded and ruffled her bangs, something he had seen her do to buy herself time.

"Why did you ask me about Harry today," Louis jumped a little, the question unexpected. He gave a shrug after a beat.

"Just curious, I guess," Annie frowned for a second, and he shifted uncomfortably as her blue eyes roamed his face.

"Weird," she said. "Because today, after school, he stopped me and asked me why I was talking to you," Annie's eyes narrowed as he shifted some more. "He warned me about you, actually," Louis couldn't help it really. He gave a loud guffaw at that. Annie continued talking as he wiped the corner of his eye after he had finished laughing. "The funny thing is..." she said as she looked down at her hands. "... Harry and I haven't talked in a little less than a year," she looked back up and he saw that she looked really sad, so Louis decided that, hell, they were 'family' so he might as well ask.

"Why?" he asked slowly as he patted her knee awkwardly.

"Well," she took a deep breath and looked back down at her hands. "Harry and I used to be best friends. We used to be inseparable. If I was there, Harry was too, and vise versa. People at school used to think we were together, even our parents thought that we would probably end up gtting married. Harry and I would laugh about it all the time, and we used to play it up for people, as a joke. Then one day, it stopped being a joke for me, and I started really liking him. He used to treat me like a princess, and I thought that, you know," she said as she gave a little smile and a nod. "That he liked me back too," she stopped for a second, and Louis knew where this was going and he felt just a bit sorry for Annie at that moment. "But he didn't," she widened her eyes just a bit, and he saw that she wasn't exactly bitter about it. "He treats all of us like that, its really weird. Its not like," she made a motion with her hand, as if trying to find the right words. "Its not like he's trying to get into out pants because with the way he looks," she giggled and Louis had to grudgingly agree. The bastard was good looking, he would give him that.

"He just," she pulled on her lip as she set her elbow on her knee and looked at him thoughtfully.

"Having a bit of trouble, eh?" he asked. "He's all that?"

"No! You don't understand!" she slapped his leg, and Louis rubbed the sting as she continued. "Its weird. He'll treat girls so sweetly, like they're the perfect woman, he'll make them fall in love, and then at the end, he'll break their hearts, but they don't even know it. He won't dump them, no," she said quickly at Louis' outraged look. "He just moves on and he's so sweet that you just can't help but NOT hate him for leaving you behind," she paused. "Do you get it?" Louis shook his head.

"Not at all," he looked at her closely. "Does he sleep with all of them?"

"None," she said without even thinking about it.

"How would you know?" Louis asked.

"Lou," she said as she picked up her pencil. "I'm a girl. Girls talk to each other. Most of the time, I get them to tell me the truth, and I know for a fact that all those rumors aren't true," Louis didn't buy it really. He knew that girls lied to each other sometimes. Or most of the time, who knew. Then something occurred to him.

"Do you still like him?" he asked softly. She looked up and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not in love with him anymore no. But I do miss him as a friend," she said more softly. "But now I have you," she said with a smile, and Louis again, thought, 'what did I get myself into?'.

Turns out, Louis didn't really regret being friends with Annie all that much. They were really alike, and even though Louis could never replace his friends back in England, he saw that he could make new ones. Just yesterday Annie had taken him to one of her friends' house, which he had been just a little bit reluctant to go. He wasn't good at meeting new people. Not that he wasn't a people person. He was when he wanted to be. Key word 'wanted'. But it turns out that the house he was going to was of one of the boys that Harry had been with that first night they had met. The one with the very short hair. He was very nice, and somehow, that just made Louis a bit suspicious at first.

"Do you miss England too much, Louis?" Liam asked from his perch on the couch as he put some popcorn in his mouth. His mum had told them to not get any popcorn on the couch because the dogs (they had three little monsters running around the big house) liked to climb on top of it and scratch the leather, so Liam was being extra careful, putting one little piece into his mouth at a time. Louis could see that he was a goody-two shoes like he had thought Harry was initially. But for some reason, all Louis wanted to do was corrupt the boy. To rumple his crisp t-shirt a bit and make him change his chinos for a pair of Levi's. But Louis guessed that some girls liked that, judging from the way one of the girls in the room was looking him.

"No. Not too much," he said with a smile.

Liam looked at the older boy as he turned to look at his side, where Annie was sitting. She and Harry didn't talk anymore, but she still talked to Niall and Liam. Zayn had moved here after every thing had happened, so he had never really warmed up to her. But Liam was actually curious about Louis. He seemed like a nice guy, if Liam forgot about the first time they had met, which had been just about a month ago. Him and Annie seemed really close, and for some reason, Harry would not shut up about it. He would bring it up whenever he could. Liam could not figure out why for the life of him. He first thought that the boy was jealous of seeing Annie with another boy, but that really wasn't the case. Liam knew Harry enough to know when the boy got jealous, and after some observation he had noticed that that wasn't the case. Harry just really disliked Louis, which was even stranger. Mind you, Liam had no knowledge about the two's little encounter in the toilet, so he was just a bit bewildered. He wasn't going to ask Louis of course, so he decided that he was going to have to put them together and see what happened.

Right now, thought, Liam watched Louis and Annie closely. Everyone at school was talking about how the the pretty blonde girl had snatched up the new handsome and rugged English bad boy, but honestly, Liam wasn't buying it. They just didn't act like a real couple. Yes, she sat on his lap and he played with her hair. He knew what coffee she liked and she knew how he liked his tea. By all these, sure, they would be together, but it just didn't have any spark. They looked at each other like good friends, like brother and sister. If you asked Liam, it reminded him a bit about how Harry and Annie had been last year, and it worried him because he would hate to see Annie get hurt again. She was a lovely girl and she truly deserved somebody that wanted her the way that every girl her age needed to be wanted. He watched her giggle at something Louis said and guessed that as long as she was happy thats really all that mattered.

The night went on, and everyone decided that it was time to go home at about ten since ethey had school the next day. He said his goodbye to everyone, and waited just until Louis and Annie were about to get into their car to ask them what he needed to ask. The driver walked to the other side as he saw that he had something to tell his friends.

"I'm having a couple friends over this Friday," Liam began, his plan forming in his head. "And I was wondering if you guys wanted to come," he paused and raised his eyebrows just a bit. "One of Zayn's friends told him that they would buy him some alcohol, so we're planning on getting shitfaced," Liam could see that Louis was just a bit surprised, but Annie wasn't. Liam could switch his good boy off with a snap of his fingers. Not that he was a sandbag, he just liked to have fun once in a while, and right now seemed the prefect time since he had some things to figure out.

"Sure mate," Louis said with a smile as he set a hand on Annie's shoulder, giving her a bit of a shove.

"Yeah! Why not," Annie said before getting in to the car.

As the car drove off, he smiled to himself. He pulled out his phone and tapped out a message.

_The party is on this Friday at my house. Only us_, he added as an after thought. He chose the recipients. **Niall, Naomi, Lisa, Zayn** and then quickly scrolled back up to _'H'_, adding **Harry** to the list. He would finally get the answers he needed.

A|N: Okay. This chapter took me a bit to get out, but I'm getting excited! Oooh. Its gonna get real good soon. Anyway. I hope you liked this chapter, and soon, we're gonna get some Larry. I just have to say, I like building things up. I don't want them to get together too quickly or whatever. Its going to be gradual. right now, they don't like each other too much, but that won't last forever. Thanks for reading! :)


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